The
Iran
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
ian Oghab ( fa, عقاب, meaning "Eagle") sometimes spelled as Akab and Okab missile is an unguided 230 mm (9 in)
artillery rocket
Rocket artillery is artillery that uses rocket explosives as the projectile. The use of rocket artillery dates back to medieval China where devices such as fire arrows were used (albeit mostly as a psychological weapon). Fire arrows were also u ...
with a range of 34–45 km (20–28 mi). It is spin-stabilized in flight but has a proven
circular error probable in excess of 500 m (1,500 ft), making it a highly inaccurate weapon. It carries a 70 kg (150 lb)
high explosive
An explosive (or explosive material) is a reactive substance that contains a great amount of potential energy that can produce an explosion if released suddenly, usually accompanied by the production of light, heat, sound, and pressure. An ...
fragmentation warhead, though it may also be able to carry
chemical
A chemical substance is a form of matter having constant chemical composition and characteristic properties. Some references add that chemical substance cannot be separated into its constituent elements by physical separation methods, i.e., w ...
warheads. According to US sources, a modified version has been developed that could be carried and fired from
Iranian Air Force * Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force
, patron =
, motto = , "Skyhigh is my place"
, colours = Ultramarine blue
, colours_label =
, march ...
F-14 Tomcat
The Grumman F-14 Tomcat is an American carrier-capable supersonic, twin-engine, two-seat, twin-tail, variable-sweep wing fighter aircraft. The Tomcat was developed for the United States Navy's Naval Fighter Experimental (VFX) program after the ...
and
F-4 Phantom II aircraft. The launcher is an elevatable triple-rail launcher assembly fitted to a
Mercedes-Benz
Mercedes-Benz (), commonly referred to as Mercedes and sometimes as Benz, is a German luxury and commercial vehicle automotive brand established in 1926. Mercedes-Benz AG (a Mercedes-Benz Group subsidiary established in 2019) is headquartere ...
LA 911B 4×4 truck chassis.
The missile was developed from the Chinese
Type-83 artillery rocket during the
Iran–Iraq War
The Iran–Iraq War was an armed conflict between Iran and Ba'athist Iraq, Iraq that lasted from September 1980 to August 1988. It began with the Iraqi invasion of Iran and lasted for almost eight years, until the acceptance of United Nations S ...
, with the assistance of the
People's Republic of China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
under an agreement signed in 1985. It entered service in 1986 and was immediately used in combat in an attack on the Iraqi city of
Basra
Basra ( ar, ٱلْبَصْرَة, al-Baṣrah) is an Iraqi city located on the Shatt al-Arab. It had an estimated population of 1.4 million in 2018. Basra is also Iraq's main port, although it does not have deep water access, which is han ...
in December 1986. Around 260–270 Oghabs were reportedly fired during the war, though their effectiveness was limited. The missile's short range confined its use to attacks on Iraqi border cities and its lack of accuracy meant that Oghab attacks were far less effective than artillery barrages.
The Oghab is used by the
Iranian Army
The Islamic Republic of Iran Army Ground Forces ( fa, نیروی زمینی ارتش جمهوری اسلامی ایران, ''Niroo-ye Zamini-ye Artesh-e Jomhuri-ye Eslâmi-ye Iran''), acronymed NEZAJA ( fa, نزاجا, NEZEJA) are the ground forc ...
and the
Revolutionary Guards
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC; fa, سپاه پاسداران انقلاب اسلامی, Sepāh-e Pāsdārān-e Enghelāb-e Eslāmi, lit=Army of Guardians of the Islamic Revolution also Sepāh or Pasdaran for short) is a branch o ...
. It is known to have been exported to Hezbollah. The
Houthi
The Houthi movement (; ar, ٱلْحُوثِيُّون ''al-Ḥūthīyūn'' ), officially called Ansar Allah (' ''Partisans of God'' or ''Supporters of God'') and colloquially simply Houthis, is an Islamist political and armed movement that ...
al-Najm al-Thaqib (missile) also shows similarities to the oghab missile.
References
* Anthony H. Cordesman. ''Iran's Military Forces in Transition: Conventional Threats and Weapons of Mass Destruction'', p. 296. Greenwood Publishing Group, 1999.
* Anthony H. Cordesman, Martin Kleiber. ''Iran's Military Forces and Warfighting Capabilities'', p. 60. Greenwood Publishing Group, 2007.
* "Aerospace Industries Organization 230 mm OGHAB artillery rocket system (Iran)". ''Jane's Armour and Artillery'', 2008.
External links
*
NTI: Country Overviews: Iran: Missile Capabilities. Nuclear Threat Initiative, February 2006.
{{Iran Missiles
Rocket artillery
Self-propelled artillery of Iran
230 mm artillery
Military equipment introduced in the 1980s